Enzo Favata: Song Book No. 1

Enzo Favata is a Sardinian saxophonist, clarinettist and composer, born in Alghero in 1956. His music brings jazz improvisation into dialogue with Mediterranean folk traditions, traditional Sardinian wind instruments and the dynamics of acoustic chamber music.

Since the early 1980s he has developed this musical language through his own ensembles and collaborations with artists including Dino Saluzzi, Enrico Rava, Dave Liebman, Mulatu Astatke and the Art Ensemble of Chicago. Alongside his concert and recording work, he has composed for film, theatre, radio and television. He has directed Sardinia’s Musica sulle Bocche festival since 2001.

Marcello Peghin is a guitarist whose work spans classical music, jazz and free improvisation. He graduated in guitar from the Adria Conservatory and, with the Tangram trio, won the international improvised-music competition in Poitiers in 1994.

His collaborations include Enzo Favata, Elena Ledda, Mauro Palmas, Salvatore Maiore, Enrico Rava, Dino Saluzzi, Paolo Fresu, Trilok Gurtu and Daniele di Bonaventura. His extensive discography also reflects his engagement with Bach: he has recorded his own guitar transcription of the Goldberg Variations and music from the first book of The Well-Tempered Clavier.

Salvatore Maiore is a double bassist, cellist and composer. He graduated in double bass from the Cagliari Conservatory in 1990, studying with Rinaldo Asuni, and subsequently taught himself the cello. Since 1997 he has combined both instruments in his concert and recording work.

His long-standing collaborations include Glauco Venier’s trio, Simone Guiducci’s Gramelot Ensemble, clarinettist Gabriele Mirabassi, guitarist Peo Alfonsi and pianist Stefano Battaglia. His recordings with Battaglia include four albums for ECM. Maiore also contributes his own compositions to projects as a leader and to recordings by his collaborators.

U.T. Gandhi is a drummer and a long-standing collaborator of saxophonist and composer Enzo Favata. He performs with Favata’s Atlantico quintet, an ensemble that brings jazz improvisation into dialogue with Mediterranean musical traditions and acoustic chamber textures. He also appears on the Da Vinci recording Song Book No. 1.

Enzo Favata is a Sardinian saxophonist, clarinettist and composer, born in Alghero in 1956. His music brings jazz improvisation into dialogue with Mediterranean folk traditions, traditional Sardinian wind instruments and the dynamics of acoustic chamber music.

Since the early 1980s he has developed this musical language through his own ensembles and collaborations with artists including Dino Saluzzi, Enrico Rava, Dave Liebman, Mulatu Astatke and the Art Ensemble of Chicago. Alongside his concert and recording work, he has composed for film, theatre, radio and television. He has directed Sardinia’s Musica sulle Bocche festival since 2001.